JCraigFong

Well, friends, after all my postings on the Forum for those who want to immigrate to the USA, I have a question related to going to the UK and Europe.

A US citizen and UK citizen are married and living in the USA. The UK citizen decides its time to "return home," and of course, the Home Office has procedures to get Entry Clearance for the American. And after the American's arrival, there would be 2-year leave to remain. Finally, as I understand it, after a period of time, the American could apply for Permanent Leave to Remain. And yes, I know that under some circumstances, the 2-year period might be by-passed and Permanent Leave granted right off the bat. This much is relatively clear. Here's my question.

The UK citizen gets a job in, say France. Can the US citizen -- who has 2-year leave to remain or maybe Permanent Leave to Remain -- follow the UK citizen to France? Will the American get a French carte de séjours? or a carte de résident? How would this work? Would there be a French application? (I am guessing there would.) Would the American run the risk of having abandoned UK residency by taking up residency in France?

If no one has an answer, can anyone point me to possible resources to further my research? Many thanks.

--J Craig Fong
Los Angeles, CA

Elvira

I wonder whether our friendly Consul would know (occasionally pops up in the USA forum...)

Bob

I don't think they are as strict with residency requirements as the US are with greencards so would possibly be alright on that, as far as I was lead to believe, especially if moving around the EU, but hey, I'm no lawyer

I also think there was a thread on this subject a year or so ago, might not be able to find it, but could be worth a search.

Marocco

The American would apply for an "EEA Family Permit". This is a visa designed to enable EU citizens to bring their family members with them when they move to another EU country. The EEA is the European Economic Area, which includes the EU and a few other countries. An EEA Family permit is much easier and cheaper to obtain than an ordinary visa. Unlike a UK spouse visa it is covered by EU rules rather than the immigration rules of a member country.

When my wife moved to the UK we applied for an EEA Family Permit rather than a spouse visa (I have Italian and British citizenship). Her visa was processed in one day (by post, no interview) and we only had to pay the postage costs. The drawback is that she will only become eligible for Permanent Residence after five years of residence in the UK rather than the usual three. See here for more info:

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoap...swissnationals

Yes, that is a possibility. A way to prevent it would be for the American to apply for British citizenship as soon as possible.

JAJ

However, in this situation it is important to bear in mind that the pathway to becoming a French citizen may be difficult or impossible compared to what the pathway to British citizenship would have been.

There is absolutely no obligation on EEA states to offer citizenship - the obligations go up to permanent resident status (after 5 years) and no more.

JCraigFong

Marocco and others: many thanks! I think I've figured it out!
You've made me and my UK spouse very happy.
Wow! This site works! Who knew?

meauxna

For you? I never knew!


Our 'green card' interview for the EEA permit went like this:

Examiner: Everything good in marriage? No boxing? (little hand gestures in the air)

Me: Boxing? Oh, fighting! No, no boxing.

Examiner: (confers with other examiners) OK, thank you. Pick up card down hall.

The only working people in the entire country who do not speak English?
The Immigration Dept.

penguinsix

There might be some folks on the US expats in the UK site who have done something similar. I know they have a specific forum just about legal issues related to Americans living in the UK

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/